The straw that broke the camel's back .
2007-01-31 01:36:00 · 21 answers · asked by jsjmlj 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
People like you.
2007-01-31 01:43:52 · answer #1 · answered by Lynnemarie 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Well I was raised Christian so at first that was all I knew. However it never sat well with me. Even when I was 5 or 6 years old in bible study I would point out that the stories didn't make sense (like who did Cain marry, and that people can't live for hundreds of years). By the time I was 13 or 14 I was certain that Christianity was total nonsense, but I had not completely given up the notion of higher being. So I started to learn about other religions. However it didn't take very long for me to realize that all religions are nearly exactly the same and are all equally false. So I just decided to live my life based on reality, logic an science. It wasn't till later that I realized that made me an atheist.
2007-01-31 11:01:40 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
For most atheists who were formerly religious, it's not a break through process. It's gradual, usually lasting years, a period of time usually filled with pain, agony, uncertainty, and terror. It's years of hard study trying desperately to recover what has been lost, trying to find the proof of their quickly fading faith.
I've never seen a real, thoughtful atheist who left religion who did not follow this pattern. There are those who have said, "well I lost my mom to cancer, so there's no god..." But that's not atheism, that's being pissed off at the divine, however the divine was conceived to be by the person.
2007-01-31 09:49:10 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It didn't happen suddenly.
I just learned more and more about religion and science and realised one of them had substance and one did not.
Debating with creationists in here makes me feel like a more militant atheist because their ignorance is just so offensive ('why are there still monkeys?')...
I see a lot of people are saying it was gradual, I guess atheists being generally more scientifically literate are aware of human fallibility so there is no 'seeing the light' moment of revelation - thats why people are complaining your choice of the word converted. Its just a slow accumulation of data which leads to an inevitable conclusion.
2007-01-31 09:48:50 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
My decision to become an atheist didn't just happen. It occurred over a period of time in which I studied the bible and other religious material. I also read books about Wicca and Islam. I always had doubts about the stories in the bible and as I got older and more educated it got even more impossible to believe in any sort of god. There wasn't really a defining act that caused me to become an atheist...it just came to be.
2007-01-31 09:47:56 · answer #5 · answered by Stormilutionist Chasealogist 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Everyone is born as Atheisjts, people don't convert to atheism, they are not religious until they are brainwashed as children (75% of people get their religion directly from their parents.)
Considering Atheism is the belief in no deities, and is supported, many never 'convert' to atheism.
2007-01-31 09:48:12 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I never had a strong religious background growing up where "God" was concerned, so I didn't put much faith or belief in anything like that. And believing in that "One True" 'God" thing is not something I am comfortable in acceting, whereas I am happy and very well content with Paganism, which I find to be more spiritual fulfilling than anything else, een though I have respect.
2007-01-31 09:46:43 · answer #7 · answered by Lief Tanner 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I never converted but after studying humanities and reading a bit of philosophy especially Voltaire I finally had a comprehensive understanding of exactly why religion was so wrong. Before I had strong doubts but after my time at university my complete rejection of theology was firmly established.
2007-01-31 09:54:37 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Basically the "chosen" people thing, the lack of evidence for either creation or the flood, the strange lack of coherent rules across species. Not sure if it really was a single thing, it just no longer made any sense.
2007-01-31 09:47:31 · answer #9 · answered by Pirate AM™ 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Atheists generally don't convert. What was the last thing you recall about why you didn't believe in the tooth fairy?
2007-01-31 09:45:29 · answer #10 · answered by fourmorebeers 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I never converted. I was born without a belief in god (like everybody) and because my parents never forced it on me as a child, I never believed it.
2007-01-31 09:48:58 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋